William Perry (10 September 1930 – 27 September 2007) was a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. He spent thirteen seasons at

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

from 1949 to 1962. Born in South Africa, he played for the England national team.

Club career

Perry, an outside-left, signed for Blackpool in 1949 after being recommended to the club by scout Billy Butler, who coached him at Johannesburg Rangers. Perry made his league debut for Blackpool on 18 March 1950, in a win at

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. The following season, his

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

semi-final replay goal against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

helped put Blackpool into the

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. Perry's most notable achievement was scoring the injury-time winner in the

1953 FA Cup Final The 1953 FA Cup Final, also known as the Matthews Final, was the eighth to be held at Wembley Stadium after the Second World War. The football match was contested between Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers, with Blackpool winning 4–3, equalling the ...

against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

, cementing a comeback from 1–3 to 4–3 thanks to an earlier

Stan Mortensen Stanley Harding Mortensen (26 May 1921 – 22 May 1991) was an English professional footballer, most famous for his part in the 1953 FA Cup Final (subsequently known as the "Matthews Final"), in which he became the only player ever to score a h ...

hat-trick. As in 1951, his semi-final goal, this time against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, sent Blackpool on their way to Wembley. During the 1955–56 season, Perry scored twenty goals (a record for a winger) (including a hat-trick in the first of two West Lancashire derbies in the space of twenty-four hours) to help Blackpool to their highest-ever league position of runners-up in the First Division. A cartilage operation virtually ended Perry's playing career, and after being in and out of the side, he was transfer-listed in the summer of 1962.

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

came in for his services, where he played 26 games from August 1962 until May 1963 when he joined

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

. He remained at Edgar Street for just the one season and made a total of 29 appearances for Hereford during his time there. Perry left Hereford at the end of the 1963–64 season and had a short spell in Australia before retiring with Holyhead Town. He became a director of

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

between 1967 and 1970.

Blackpool F.C. Hall of Fame

Perry was inducted into the

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

at Bloomfield Road, when it was officially opened by former Blackpool player

Jimmy Armfield James Christopher Armfield, (21 September 1935 – 22 January 2018) was an English professional football player and manager who latterly worked as a football pundit for BBC Radio Five Live. He played the whole of his Football League career at B ...

in April 2006. Organised by the Blackpool Supporters Association, Blackpool fans around the world voted on their all-time heroes. Five players from each decade are inducted; Perry is in the 1950s.

International career

Perry made three appearances for England, scoring two goals.

Post-retirement

After retiring, Perry ran a couple of businesses in Blackpool, where he lived with his wife, Jean. In January 2007, he was reunited with the

after 54 years when the trophy was taken to

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a single-tier football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two being Raikes Hall Gardens and the ...

as part of the build-up to the Seasiders' fourth-round tie with

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

. Also in attendance was Cyril Robinson, at the time the only other surviving member of the cup-winning team. Perry died eight months later at the age of 77.

Honours

Blackpool *

: 1952–53

References

External links

Obituary in ''The Times'', 1 October 2007

Perry's profile at the FA's official website
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Bill 1930 births 2007 deaths Soccer players from Johannesburg English footballers England international footballers South African soccer players South African people of English descent Blackpool F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Southport F.C. players Holyhead Town F.C. players English Football League players Deaths from cancer in England Place of death missing South Coast United players Rangers F.C. (South Africa) players English Football League representative players Association football forwards South African emigrants to the United Kingdom FA Cup Final players